Why Social Media Marketing?

Why would you want to market your small business, insurance agency or real estate practice using social media? Good question, and I've got some great answers.

1. Social media marketing is free.

You can reach more people in less time and for less money with social media. If you position yourself correctly among your target market, you can generate leads and create raving fans.

2. Social media keeps you on the forefront.

Social media marketing helps keep you on the forefront of everyone's minds. You can nurture leads using social media practices, and you can stay in touch with existing customers.

3. Social media is the wave of the future.

Social media is a new way to communicate that people are embracing more and more everyday. Facebook has over 600 million members, and over 1/2 of those members log-in every day. The trend is only getting stronger as more people and companies realize the benefits of social media and begin to make strides to use it as a resource for sales, marketing and customer service.

4. Social media allows you to build community among your target market.

There is no better, faster or more efficient way to build community and create raving fans than with social media. Building community helps to keep people in your niche connected to you and connected to each other. What better way to make new offers, promote sales and generate buzz?

5. Social media gives you power to become famous among your niche

Fame is up-for-grabs today. It is easier than ever to become famous, literally famous among those in your target market. High-visibility marketing makes sense when it comes to getting people to purchase what you offer. There is no better status than "famous" when it comes to selling your wares.

6. Social media is measurable.

Social media is completely measurable in a way that is unsurpassed in virtually every other form of marketing, including direct mail. You can measure the sentiment of your niche in likes, comments, retweets and engagement. You can track web conversions, sign-ups and views. Every aspect of social media is completely trackable, and therefore ripe for continuous improvement.

7. Social media lets you reach your precise target demographic.

The process of engaging in social media requires that the users provide a great deal of personal information about themselves. This personal information is available to marketers for pin-pointing ad campaigns. You can narrow down your marketing campaign to only those people who fit a certain criteria, thus saving on advertising costs and allowing you to tailor your message like never before in the history of marketing.

8. Social media allows you to listen to your target market.

Using social media listening tools, you can hear what your target audience is saying about your brand and about your competitors online. Simply plugin the keywords you want to track and you'll be sent updates of all relevant conversations across the social media world. Knowing what your prospects are saying helps you know what they are thinking and devise marketing strategies that relate to them like never before.

9. Social media provides viral marketing.

Social media incites the viral marketing process, meaning, that when one person in your core market engages with your content, all their friends see what they are doing and can join the engagement process too. This viral marketing capability is unsurpassed by any other marketing medium on the planet.

10. Social media offers free publicity.

Social media is more than marketing, it is a promising public relations tool. At your fingertips on Twitter and Facebook, you will find every traditional media outlet in the world. If you know how to position your brand and attract attention, you can become a reliable source for reporters and journalists. Organic press is free publicity we could all use.

Conclusion

Social media is more than a fad--it is one of the biggest shifts in industry since the industrial revolution. Now is the time to take advantage of the economies of scale offered by the medium. Now is the time to learn the strategies that make you successful online. Now is the time to embrace social media.

Not embracing social media is like writing on the cave walls after Gutenberg invented the printing press. ~ dotJenna